Hope you have a fabulous and safe Thanksgiving wherever and however you may be celebrating this year!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Tag: random
100th Blog Post!
It’s my 100th Blog Post!
Huzzah! Hooray!
Holy cow.
There were a few days (months really) were I didn’t think the blog was gonna last this long. For reals though.
I started this blog as a way to write about anything and everything that crossed my mind.
In the early days I wrote about my cat. I mean look at how cute she is!
Or about a cup of tea. Yes, I really wrote an entire blog post about a cup of tea. What? I love tea. Don’t tell me you don’t love cuddling up with a cup of tea and a good book.
Okay, so maybe you like coffee and a good book. I’m not gonna judge you.
Let’s not forget the fabulous girls weekend in New Orleans. That was a good time. I miss those ladies.
I also wrote about the first time I made my family’s sacred chicken and dumplings recipe after my dad died last year. That was a healing experience for me.
Then I wrote my very first book review and got bit by a bug that just wouldn’t go away. Hello The Power. Spoiler alert, I wasn’t really a fan of this book.
I got really excited to join my first book club this year. So much so that I decided to write about it. We read the Princess Bride!
I started a little plant menagerie. One the plants has since died. But most of them are alive, and that’s all that matters here!
We cancelled our trip to Disney because of Covid-19. While it was the responsible thing to do, it still hurt my heart to do it.
I started playing Animal Crossing in April, wrote about it in July, and have still managed to play every day since. I’m not saying I have a problem, but I just flattened my island to redo it…again.
Then I read a book a day in August to get my reading engine kickstarted. It worked. Cause now I have a book blog.
I started review books with more regularity. Like, for example, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn.
I also decorated the front room of our house with books. Because how could you not use books everywhere?
The Hubs and I did end up going to a quaint B&B for our 40th birthdays this year. Twas fun.
And then I reviewed on of my favorite books in a long time, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. Yes, it’s safe to say I loved this book.
I really have enjoyed blogging over these last two years and I’m excited to see where the next two years will take me. I loved that I have evolved into a book blog, as books really are one of my passions in life. They bring me loads of joy. What blog posts have you enjoyed?
Well That Didn’t Take Long
Well, I did it. I changed my mind.
About what, you may ask?
The wall! I changed my mind about the wall!
If you’ll recall from this post, I really wanted to paint. Specifically, this wall in my house.
I felt my home really needed an accent wall, but I was going to do my best to wait until the pandemic was over.
Then I got an itch. And I needed to do something! So I went out and bought paint samples for the two colors I liked best.
But as time has passed and I lived with the colors, I came to a very different conclusion.
I don’t actually like either one of them for this room!
Yup. They gotta go. It didn’t take too long. I noticed after about a week that the colors weren’t quite what I wanted, and they pretty much stayed that way.
It also doesn’t help that both colors made me want to paint the rest of the rooms that the wall is visible from, i.e. the kitchen and the dining room. That’s a no go. I know I have the time, but that’s a lot of work and I have very high ceilings.
Whine.
So it’s back to the drawing board. I still want to paint that wall, I just have to find a different color for it. More researching on the internet for me!
When the “Worst” Thing Happens
Okay, so not the worst, worst thing. But still.
The worst thing happened!
My Nintendo Switch died!
I should maybe explain that I started playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons recently. I had never played an Animal Crossing game before. I found it highly entertaining. I played, according to my Switch before it died, for 125 hours or more. Not to mention the hours I had put into my replay of Breath of the Wild.
Then on Saturday, I put my Switch to sleep to go make dinner, and it didn’t want to wake back up.
I did everything I could to bring it back. I even called my husband down to come and look at it.
Nothing worked. It was well and truly dead.
Bother.
My husband did have one minor solution though. See, we are a two switch household. We discovered a while ago that we both like playing Switch game and taking it on trips and the like. So two Switches quickly became a necessity in our lives.
The hubs just suggested I use his until we could send mine off to Nintendo for repairs. Which will be a while, since the repair center is closed due to Covid-19, as it should be.
With the hubs’ great sacrifice, I was off!
I did have to start the game all over again, but I learned from the last time I played. What took me almost two weeks to do last time, took me a day and a half to do this time.
I’m trying hard not to do things the same way. I picked a different roof color for my house, for example. And of course, the island is different. And I got all new villagers, which is great, though I did like my old villagers.
Oh! And because I had gotten Nintendo Switch Online, I didn’t lose all my gameplay for Breath of the Wild! Still wish you could back your Animal Crossing island up though!
When Life Has Got You Down
Well hello!
Mental health check! How are you?
Me, I’m on a mild downswing with my bi-polar disorder. For me, that means mild depression. Oh joy.
I say mild because that’s what it is.
I find myself having a lack of desire to do things other than sitting around my house playing Animal Crossing. And I only want to do that because it involves just sitting around my house!
I’m having trouble falling asleep at night and then, in the morning, I’m having trouble waking up! That’s what you call a no-win situation. It’s because of the lack of sleep the night before leads to a desire to sleep in, but the alarm I set to try and wake myself up every day says no. Bother.
This week I told myself I was going to start doing things. I know, doing things won’t snap me out of my depression, nor do I expect it to, but my house won’t clean itself.
When I looked at the idea of cleaning my house it felt too daunting, so I skipped doing something on Monday.
On Tuesday I told myself that I was going to clean the master bathroom. That didn’t happen. It felt like an insurmountable task. Like Sisyphus and his boulder.
Then, on Wednesday, I decided to try something different. If the idea of cleaning a whole room felt too huge, why not just clean part of it.
So I cleaned the shower.
Finally, a win!
I did something.
Thursday, I woke up early and met with my psychiatrist. He doesn’t recommend changing my medication at this time, because, like most people, my change of mental state can be directly related to the chaos caused by Covid-19, even though my day to day life hasn’t changed much.
So for now, I just have to remember to be not to harsh with my self when I find it hard to get out of bed and to practice good self-care.
Oh, and lots of cuddles with this one.
Happy Star Wars Day!
May the 4th be with you!
I love that pun. nevermind that it is a very clever marketing tool to get Star Wars fans everywhere to buy new merch and watch the movies. It totally works.
I mean, I woke up this morning to buy a pair of Star Wars Minnie ears from Disney for my upcoming trip only to find out that they were more than I was willing to pay for something I was only going to wear once. $80 for a pair of Minnie ears Disney? Really?
They were cute though.
It may be a day for merch, but it’s also a day for nostalgia.
See, my first memories of Star Wars are shared with my father. He was the first person I saw the original trilogy with. And I’m not gonna lie, after the last movie, Rise of Skywalker, I may have cried in the theater as the credits were rolling because I wasn’t able to share this final movie with him.
It was bittersweet.
So today, I’ll watch that original trilogy. I’ll celebrate all things Star Wars. I’ll remember my dad and the times we spent watching the movie together.
Today, I will be unapologetically nerdy. Just the way May the 4th is supposed to be.
A Musical Day
Like so many us, my mental health hasn’t been great lately. I have generalized anxiety, among other things, so pretty much everything has the opportunity to make me anxious. And lately, there’s been a lot to be anxious about.
So I decided to take a day for me.
That’s right, I’m taking a self-care day!
I know I’ve talked my friends and family to death about this on social media because it makes me happy, but this past Friday all the musical things came out. There were two Disney musical experiences and Phantom of the Opera! I also watched some Golden Girls in between my musicals.
Yup, my self-care day was full of musicals and the Golden Girls.
And also cake!
I made a vegan chocolate cake the other day, so I can eat as much of it as I want and not upset my egg allergy! Mind you I only had one piece on my self-care day. It’s a self-care day, not a make yourself sick on chocolate cake day.
Time for self-care has never been more important. If you can’t break away for a whole day, try for an hour or two. Just make some time for yourself.
You deserve it.
Social-Distancing as an Ambivert
I’m an ambivert. It’s a fancy way of saying I am both an introvert and an extrovert. Which is just a fancy way of saying that I am both comfortable at home with no friends to spend time with, or I am comfortable out with all the peoples!
And yes, the hubs and I are still very much into our social distance practicing. And so should you.
I have to say, I miss the peoples.
But not hugely.
Not missing people, but still missing them, one of the joys of being an ambivert.
And, because I have anxiety, it is both a blessing and a curse. Apparently, I get anxious when I don’t get to leave my house and do things like go to the movies by myself. And my anxiousness expresses itself through restlessness, otherwise known as that feeling of “I don’t know what I want to do but I do know that it’s none of the things we have in the house and omg I’m gonna go crazy if I don’t figure it out”.
Those moments are usually accompanied by a lot of turning the tv on and back off again, picking up a book only to get bored of it two chapters in, followed up by moments of “I should bake something” only to realize I don’t actually want to bake anything.
Thankfully, I’m also perfectly happy just relaxing on my couch with my cup of tea, blanket, and a book. I love being a walking contradiction. It fills me with joy.
Are there any other ambiverts out there? If so, how are you handling your time at home?
My Crafting Space
I built a dresser (pre-Covid-19). Well, the hubs and I built the dresser. Basically, I started it. I did the body, he came in halfway, said “I want to help”, then built all the drawers cause he’s awesome like that.
It’s like legos for adults.
After many hours we got it finished! Huzzah! All is right with the world!
It is now in its proper place in my craft room! See how nice it looks with my pegboard.
Why yes, I do have a ribbon habit.
I’m really happy with how much storage this dresser has in it. Right now I have one drawer empty. I’m assuming that will get filled up with fabric. Or, quite possibly, I just need to go through my fabric collection and donate what I never plan on using so that other drawers are freed up.
Nah.
And with that, my craft room is mostly done! I say mostly because whose craft room is ever actually finished. I am patiently awaiting the day I want to add more stuff. It’ll happen. Just you wait and see.
I Feel the Need to Change a Thing!
I want to do a house project!
I get the urge every now and then. Something has to give.
See, I have this wall. And on this wall, there is a fireplace.
It looks a little boring, don’t you think? I mean, the ceiling is the same color as the walls. In every room in the house! And the fireplace is the same one in every house in our neighborhood. But I can’t change the fireplace without contractors.
I don’t want to use contractors right now. Also, the hubs won’t let me at this moment in time. His logic is sound.
There is a plague happening right now.
But, I could paint the wall. I even did a little mock-up from Sherwin Williams to see what it would look like.
Of course, my painting job would be better than my artistic rendering of the paint I did here. Accent walls for the win!
I tried a variety of different colors, dark browns, light blues, greens, oranges, even brick reds. Nothing really worked with the wall color. But I really like the one above. It’s called Dark Night.
Of course, I have yet to actually see the color in person. Again, because plague. I’ll get there eventually.
Here’s hoping I get to paint this wall soon.
Lauren Corcur 